Variant
by pinkpallet
Summary: In a world ruled by an evil group of people, it is illegal to own or train Pokémon unless you are working for them. Ash, Gary and their friends have to study in a special university to get the permission to own Pokémon. Will they be able to stop these evil rulers and save the world before it's too late? Palletshipping, dystopian AU, SLASH,
1. Waiting

**Note:- Hello guys! It's me! Back with a new Palletshipping fanfic.**

 **Okay first of all, I am really sorry for not updating Creating a Perfect Past in such a long time (It's been a year I guess?). I promise I'll get back to it as soon as possible.**

 **In the meantime, this plotbunny had taken control of my mind and was refusing to leave until I wrote it down. So, here we are with this fanfic. I promise to update this fic every week or atleast every two weeks. :-)**

 **This fic has a completely different plot than the anime. But almost all the major anime characters will show up in it. It is mostly like an anime-verse AU (but it includes non-anime characters like Leaf too).**

 **It will take some time to get to the plot and explain everything so please be patient.**

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 **Chapter 1:- Waiting**

It was a warm sunny day in Pallet town. It was also the last day of exams at Pallet High School after which the summer holidays were going to begin.

Eighteen year old Ash Ketchum was scribbling furiously on his answer sheet. He had studied his best and was really hoping to score good marks in the paper.

"Last ten minutes!" the examiner announced.

Ash finished his paper as fast as he could. Went through it once again, searching for any possible mistakes. Once he was satisfied with it, he got up and went over to the examiner. He handed his paper, picked up his bag and went outside the classroom.

His mind was buzzing with excitement and nervous anticipation as he made his way outside the school. He had finally done it. Given his best. Now all he could do was wait for the results.

Ash walked towards a familiar Oak tree just outside their school which was the rendezvous point for him and his friends to meet. Sure enough, in a few minutes Leaf Green hurried towards the tree.

"Hey Ash!" Leaf said, and beamed at him radiantly.

"Hey Leaf, how was the paper?" Ash asked her.

"Very easy. I think almost all of my answers are correct. How did it went for you?" she asked him.

"It was okay," Ash answered honestly, "Gary had helped me with the studies yesterday. So, I was able to do alright."

Leaf Green and Gary Oak were Ash Ketchum's classmates at Pallet High School and also his best friends. Well, he had some issues with Gary in the past but for the most part they were resolved now. Ash knew that Leaf was extremely happy about her two best friends patching it up and becoming friends again. She had helped them to patch up obviously.

"Of course Gary would have helped you with the paper. This is his favorite subject, right? Study of Pokémon Fossils," Leaf said.

"Yeah, it's his favorite subject. He had once told me that he wanted to become a Pokémon researcher and revive Pokémon fossils," Ash told her.

"Yeah, he had mentioned it to me too," Leaf said.

Just then, a tall brunette with green eyes came hurrying towards the tree. "Sorry, I am late. I was finishing the paper," Gary told them.

"Writing till the last minute as usual," Leaf commented, rolling her eyes.

"That's because I knew everything, unlike you two," Gary replied in a mischievous tone.

"Hey!" Leaf said indignantly and swatted her arm at him which he playfully dodged.

"Stop it you two," Ash said with a laugh. It always made him laugh when his two best friends started their playful fighting.

The three of them talked for a little longer and then made their way towards Ash's house, where his mother was going to give all three of them a treat for finishing their final exam. They walked silently for some time, after which Ash finally spoke up,

"Do you think we'll be able to make it? I mean, will we be able to get enrolled in the Pokémon University?"

"Of course we will Ash!" Leaf said with determination, "We had studied so hard and done our best. There's no reason why we wouldn't get selected."

"I am not so sure," Gary said suddenly. Both Ash and Leaf turned to look at him.

"Why?" Ash asked him.

"Well, first of all they select students from all over the 'Seven Regions' for the Pokémon University. We will literally be competing against not just students from all over Kanto but rather students from all over the world. And I am not sure whether we are that good," Gary replied in a serious tone.

"Where has your usual confidence disappeared Gary?" Ash asked feeling surprised. It was quite unlike Gary to be so doubtful and nervous.

"I want to become a researcher so I must think logically. And logic dictates that it is very difficult for the three of us to get admission in the Pokémon University," Gary stated firmly.

The Pokémon University was a prestigious University located on a faraway island. Currently, it was the only place where one could pursue higher studies related to Pokémon. Only the students from that University were allowed to have Pokémon of their own.

Ash had always wanted to own Pokémon. He wanted to train them and be their friend. Which is why getting admission in Pokémon University was so important for him.

Soon, they reached his house and Ash pressed the doorbell. The door was opened by a middle-aged woman with a kind face, brown eyes and brown hair. Delia Ketchum smiled at her son and said, "Hello sweetie, how did your exam went?"

"It was alright mom," Ash replied as he stepped inside the house, followed by Gary and Leaf.

"Gramps! I didn't knew you were here as well!" Gary exclaimed. Ash looked up and saw Professor Oak sitting on a couch in the living room.

"Of course I am here!" he said pleasantly, "How could I miss the post-exam celebration for the three of you?" Gary smiled at him.

The three of them removed their shoes and settled down in the dining room. They were soon joined by Professor Oak and Delia.

Ash's mother went into the kitchen and brought a lot of delicious-looking food, which she placed on the dining table.

"This looks tasty mom!" Ash exclaimed.

"Thanks for taking the trouble to make this for us Mrs. Ketchum," Leaf said politely.

"Oh don't worry dear, it wasn't a trouble at all. Now, enjoy the feast," said Delia.

Ash didn't need to be told twice. He dug into the food greedily and enjoyed every bite of it.

"So, now that you are graduating from high-school, what are your plans for the future?" Professor Oak asked the three of them.

"You already know about it gramps. We want to get admission in Pokémon University," Gary told him.

"Still fixed on that I see," his grandfather commented.

"What's wrong with that?" Gary asked.

"Nothing, on the contrary, I am proud of the three of you to set such high goals and ambitions for yourselves. But I was wondering, why you want to get admission in Poké Uni in the first place?" Professor Oak asked them.

"Because I want to learn all there is to learn about Pokémon and become a Pokémon researcher. Probably even revive a Pokémon fossil one day," Gary answered.

"I want to get admission over there so that I can become a Pokémon trainer," Leaf replied.

"I want to become a Pokémon trainer too but more than that I just want to own Pokémon, take care of them and become their friend," Ash answered honestly.

Ash saw Professor Oak and Delia exchange a glance. Both of them looked really angry about something.

"What happened? Did I said something wrong?" Ash asked nervously.

"Well, it's just that, none of this would have been a problem in my time or even in Delia's time. Hell, it wouldn't have been a problem until a few years ago," Professor Oak said exasperatedly.

"What wouldn't have been a problem?" Ash asked feeling confused.

"You wanting to own a Pokémon. Until a few years ago, people in all the regions were allowed to own Pokémon. They weren't required to attend an exotic University just to get a Pokémon of their own," Professor Oak told him.

"Yes, you could apply for a trainer license as soon as you were ten and you would become qualified to receive your first Pokémon. You could catch other Pokémon with the help of your starter," Delia added.

"I think I had heard about this from my parents," Leaf said, "This was how things were when we were very young, weren't they?" she asked.

"Yes, this was how things were before the 'Super Seven' took over," Professor Oak grumbled.

Ash knew about the Super Seven very well. Every kid at his school knew. They were taught almost daily at their school how the Super Seven were the best thing that had happened to all the Pokémon regions. That they were the most brave, noble, just and powerful rulers.

Though what Ash had heard from the local gossip and from his own mom and Professor Oak was quite the opposite. They always said that the Super Seven were evil, hateful, cunning and extremely cruel towards Pokémon and humans alike. Ash personally didn't knew what to believe.

"What's more, you were able to own Pokémon of different types before they took over," Delia told them.

"Really?!" Ash, Gary and Leaf exclaimed in unison. In their current society no person was allowed to own Pokémon of more than one type. You could only train or own Pokémon of any one particular type. Of course, you were allowed to train Pokémon with a secondary typing but the primary type had to be the same for all of your Pokémon.

"You remember our Mr. Mime Ash? Wouldn't it be simply lovely to have him back?" Delia asked him.

"Yeah," Ash replied. Mr. Mime had been Delia Ketchum's Pokémon. And also the Pokémon with whom Ash had spent the most of his childhood with. He had been really attached to the psychic-type clown Pokémon. Now, he really missed him.

"Mom, do you think those people would be taking good care of Mr. Mime?" Ash asked his mother.

Delia's jaw trembled as she replied, "I... don't think so sweetie. Those people are not exactly known for looking after or taking care of Pokémon."

When the Super Seven had taken over, every person owning Pokémon had been given an option. Either they would agree to work for the Super Seven or they would have to disown their Pokémon and hand them over to the new government. Delia had obviously refused to work for them, because of which they had taken away her Mr. Mime.

The atmosphere at the table suddenly became grim after the mention of Mr. Mime. Gary asked the one question which had been on everyone's mind,

"So if we want to own or study Pokémon, would we have to work for Super Seven as well?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, yes Gary," Professor Oak answered, "There is no other option. Even the Pokémon University is owned by Super Seven. If you take admission over there you would be basically admitting to work for them in future."

"But we don't have any other option," Leaf muttered, "That's our only way of getting close to Pokémon."

A feeling of gloom and sadness settled over everyone at the table. They finished their feast in silence. Leaf was the first one to finish her meal. She said goodbye to everyone, hugged both Ash and Gary, and got up to leave.

Professor Oak left soon after that citing that he had some research to attend to in his lab.

That left Gary alone with Ash and Delia. The moment Delia went inside the kitchen, Gary reached across the table and squeezed Ash's hand with his.

"Huh, what?" Ash asked him.

"Ash, I just wanna say that, if only one of us gets admission to the Poké Uni, that I will really really miss you. A lot. You are my best friend. Probably even more closer to me than Leaf. And I just don't like the idea of us separating after high school," Gary said to him.

"Whoa Gary, what's wrong with you? When did you became so sentimental? And really, you think only one of us will make it to the Poké Uni? You are so sure that I won't make it?" Ash asked him.

"Why do you have to take it so wrongly Ash?" Gary asked, looking a little annoyed, "I didn't meant that you wouldn't make it. Maybe _I_ won't be able to make it. But point is that, if we do get separated, than I want you to know that I'll miss you a lot."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Ash said, "I'll miss you too, alright?"

Gary nodded and let his hand go. His expression returned back to being cool and uncaring, as though the small moment of emotional bonding between them had never happened.

Gary had always been like that. Putting on a mask of coolness and ego, making it seem as though he didn't cared about anything at all. But Ash knew better. He had seen enough of Gary to know that he truly cared. That he valued their friendship beyond anything else.

Ash would have really loved to know why Gary had suddenly stopped being his friend for a few years. He tried not to think of those few years when Gary used to be really mean and rude towards him. It still hurt to remember how he used to behave. Although, one day Ash would really like to know Gary's reasons for behaving the way he had.

Now was not the time for that though. Now was the time to gently smile at Gary and let him know that even if they get separated they would always remain each other's best friends.

Once Gary had finished eating, he stood up to leave. He said his goodbyes to Delia and went in the living room to put on his shoes. Ash followed him. They walked together till they reached the front gate of the house.

Before Gary could walk away any further Ash took his hand into his and said, "You know that we'll always remain best friends, right?"

"Yeah, thanks Ash," Gary said in reply and turned to leave.

Ash watched him walking into the sunset with a slight smile on his face. The smile didn't hide the fact that he was really nervous about their exam results though. He really wanted to get admission in Pokémon University. He wanted to be around those magical creatures, wanted to touch them, train with them and care for them. He hoped all three of them, he , Gary and Leaf would get admission over there.

He clenched his fist in determination and said to nobody in particular, "We will definitely make it!"

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 **Author Note:- Hope you all enjoyed this! Please review and tell me what you thought of this. I love constructive criticism.**

 **Also, Misty, Brock, May and others are definitely going to be in the story but they'll come later. Please be patient!**


	2. Wondering

**Note:- Thanks for all the follows, favs and reviews! They truly mean a lot.**

 **So this is the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 2:- Wondering**

Ash had spent the past two months hanging around with Gary and Leaf in Pallet town and nervously anticipating their result. It had been a couple of months since their exam had been over and each day was bringing them closer to the result.

The night before the result, Ash couldn't sleep. He had already overeaten at dinner time out of nervousness and now his sleep was affected by the same anxiety as well. He slowly got out of his bed and switched on the television in his room.

 _Rebels try to attack the Super Seven headquarters in Hoenn!_

The headline caught his attention. He increased the volume of his T.V. to understand the news better. The anchor was saying-

 _An attack of rebels took place in Hoenn about four hours ago. This attack was led by former Gym Leader Norman of Petalburg City. He and a group of young Pokémon trainers had attacked the Super Seven headquarters located in Mauville City._

 _But their attack didn't worked and they were defeated quite easily. Gym Leader Norman has been caught by the Hoenn police force. Lord Archie and Lord Maxie are safe._

Ash knew that Lord Archie and Lord Maxie were two leaders of the Secret Seven. Hoenn was the only region to have two leaders in the Secret Seven, something the people of Hoenn were exceptionally proud of.

He watched as the rebels were mercilessly beaten on the television screen. He was just about to turn off the T.V. when his mother entered his room and fixed him with a stern gaze.

"Ash, why are you still awake? You should switch off the T.V. and go to sleep because-" Delia Ketchum stopped mid-sentence as her attention turned towards what was being shown on the television. She let out a low gasp and covered her mouth with her hand.

"What's wrong mom?" Ash asked her.

"Oh dear, this is outrageous!" Delia exclaimed, "They are beating up those rebels so mercilessly. It's just cruel!"

"But those rebels were breaking the law," Ash pointed out, "They had attacked the Super Seven headquarters." Ash remembered what he had been taught at school. Anyone who protested against or tried to attack the Super Seven was to be punished without any mercy.

"And what's so wrong in attacking their headquarters?" Delia asked with a hint of anger in her voice, "Do you know how they treat the citizens of Hoenn? Most of the people over there don't have any money to buy food or pay their bills. It is a horrible situation."

"But two of the Super Seven members are from Hoenn? Don't you think they would do something to help their own region?" Ash asked feeling confused. Sometimes he didn't know whom to believe. His mom or his textbooks.

"Those two are busy fighting amongst themselves. They don't care even a little bit about the people over there," Delia told him, "It was about time someone rebelled against them."

Ash could understand where his mother's anger was coming from. She had not taken well to Mr. Mime being taken away from her. Since then she had developed an intense dislike for the Super Seven.

All of a sudden, Delia said, "And these are the kind of people you are going to be working with in the future!"

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, feeling startled.

"I mean, you are going to study in a University governed by them, filled with teachers who would brainwash you into thinking that they are great. Not that your school did a good job either, but it will only get worse in the Poké Uni. And then, if you really want to stay around Pokémon forever, you will have to work for them in the future as well," Delia explained.

Ash didn't knew what to say to that. True he had been taught at school never to question the Super Seven but did that really mean they were brainwashing the students? Also was it really that bad to work for them in the future? He badly wanted a job in the future that would bring him closer to Pokémon. It was his dream to become a Pokémon Master but for that he would have to work for the Super Seven. Ash wondered whether it was as bad as his mom made it sound.

"Would working for them be really that bad? Would you hate me if I worked for them?" he asked his mother in a small voice.

Delia moved closer to her son and gently cupped his face with her hands, "I could never hate you Sweetie. But I want you to know the consequences of working for them. They would make you steal Pokémon, hurt people or sometimes even kill people. No one knows what they are planning but the local gossip is that they are going to do something big and extremely dangerous in the near future."

"I can't base my entire career on local gossip mom!" Ash exclaimed, "I really don't think they would be that bad."

Delia sighed, "Well, you might find out soon enough, but I'd rather you don't have to find it out."

She left after that with a slightly disappointed look on her face. Ash switched off the television and went to bed, but sleep wouldn't come. He kept wondering whether he would get accepted in Poké Uni or not. And worse, he wondered whether he would have to do something that wasn't right in the future. He kept thinking about it for a long time until he finally fell asleep.

"Wake up loser! I seriously can't believe you are still asleep?!" a voice yelled in the darkness.

"Ash please wake up, this is really important," another voice chided.

Ash slowly opened his eyes. Warm rays of sunlight coming from the window hit his face as he slowly got up and looked around. He was in his bedroom but there were two more people accompanying him over there. Gary and Leaf.

"Whoa! What are you two doing over here? Don't we have to go to the school?" Ash asked them.

"We had to go to school in the _morning_ Ash," Gary spoke, "Now, it's _afternoon_."

"What?!" Ash exclaimed feeling surprised. He had overslept that late? Why hadn't his mom woke him up?

"Yes, you overslept again," Leaf told him. They all knew that Ash had a habit of worrying about things till late in the night and then oversleeping in the morning.

"What happened at school?" he finally asked them. To his surprise, Gary smiled at him.

"Don't worry Ashy-boy, you did good. All the teachers were asking for you, but when you didn't arrived they handed over your result to us," he told Ash.

"And, how is my result?" Ash asked nervously.

"Take a look for yourself," Gary answered with a wink and handed him a brown envelope. Ash opened it and pulled out a white sheet of paper from it. What was written on it made his heart skip a few beats.

"I am topper in four subjects," he whispered, "And I have done good in the rest of the subjects as well."

"Read what's written at the end of it," Gary said.

Ash read those lines and his eyes widened in surprise. "I got selected! I got selected in the Pokémon University!" He almost jumped out of his bed in excitement and gave tight hugs to both Gary and Leaf. He ran out of his room to find his mother.

"Mom, look what my result says!" he screamed excitedly the moment he noticed Delia in the kitchen.

"What does it say?" Delia asked in a tone that was laced with fear.

"I got selected in the Poké Uni," Ash told her with a radiant beam.

"Oh," was all that Delia said. She turned her face away from him and muttered, ""Well, congratulations then."

Ash stared at her for some time. Finally, he said, "You are not happy, are you? You don't like me going to the Pokémon University, do you?"

"No, I don't like that you are going over there," she admitted, "It's because I would feel lonely over here. I don't want to live all alone by myself."

"That's not the only reason, is it?"Ash asked, "You aren't happy because you don't approve of me going to the Pokémon University."

"If you know that why are you asking me?" Delia asked him, "Yes, I don't approve of your going to the Poké Uni because I think it is a horrible place! It is run by the people of Super Seven and they would teach you all sorts of wrong things which I don't want you to learn!" Delia spoke in a tone filled with anguish, despair, hurt and anger.

Ash had never seen his mom like this before. She had always been so supportive of his dreams in the past. He couldn't understand why she had suddenly became like this.

"What's wrong with you?" he cried, "Why are you behaving like this? I am not doing anything wrong! I just want to become friends with Pokémon!"

Delia looked at him. There were tears in her eyes. She said, "I am sorry Sweetie. I didn't wanted to hurt your feelings. But you going to _that_ place... it's just too much to absorb."

"So that's why you didn't woke me up right? You didn't wanted me to collect my result from school because you were afraid of me getting selected?" Ash questioned.

"Yes," Delia replied, "I wanted to delay it as much as possible. I was confident that you would get selected and I just... didn't wanted you to know that, because then you would leave for that horrid place."

Ash shook his head. He just couldn't understand his mother. He stomped out of the house angrily, not even bothering himself with the fact that he was still wearing his pajamas.

He stopped walking as he reached a small clearing a little away from his house. He was staring determinedly at the ground, trying not to cry. He couldn't understand why his mom didn't wanted him to follow his dreams.

Just then, he heard rushing footsteps behind him. He turned around. It was Gary and Leaf.

"Ash, what happened?" Gary asked him with concern in his voice.

"Did you had a row with your mother?" Leaf asked him.

Ash told them what had just happened in the kitchen. Leaf looked shocked, Gary however seemed to have expected it as he said,

"My grandfather feels the same way. He isn't too happy about me getting selected for the Poké Uni either. I had a feeling your mom would react in a similar manner."

"Well, my parents are pretty chill about it. Infact, they are proud of me getting selected," Leaf told them.

"Hang on," Ash said, "So are you two saying that you got selected _too_?" Ash asked feeling pleasantly surprised.

"Yep. We are the only three students from our year to get selected for the Poké Uni," Gary told him proudly.

"That's brilliant!" Ash exclaimed, all his earlier worries forgotten. He gave a wide smile to both Gary and Leaf. He wouldn't feel alone and lonely at the Pokémon University afterall. His friends would be there with him. His best friends in the whole world. And who knows, he might make some new friends over there too.

His happiness though was short-lived as at that precise moment they heard a loud screeching noise coming from the woods.

"What's that?" Leaf wondered.

"Let's go and see!" Ash ,being the ever enthusiastic one, suggested and ran in the direction of the noise.

"Ash stop!" Gary called out from behind him but Ash was already running as fast as he could. The screeching noises were growing louder with each step he took.

He finally reached a small clearing in the woods and saw a young boy tie a bandage to the wing of a - wait a minute, was that a _Pokémon?!_ Ash couldn't believe his eyes. He was actually looking at a living and breathing Pokémon. He remembered the pictures from his textbook and recognized the Pokémon to be a Pidgey.

But then he noticed how the Pidgey was holding his wing at an odd angle. And there were spots of red liquid on the ground, the Pidgey's wing was bleeding.

Gary and Leaf came hurrying up behind him.

"It's a Pidgey!" Leaf breathed.

"And he is hurt," Gary added.

"Hey, what happened?" Ash asked the boy who was tying a bandage on the Pidgey's wing.

"His wing got hurt and he can't fly because of it. Can you help me tie the bandage? He is moving a lot so it's difficult to tie," the boy requested.

"Yeah, sure," the ever helpful Ash Ketchum said. He went closer to the Pidgey and gently sat down next to the boy. He held the Pidgey firmly but not too tightly as the other boy tied the bandage to its wing.

"Good job Ashy," Gary said from behind him.

The boy had almost finished tying the bandage when all of a sudden Ash heard Leaf gasp from behind him. He was about to ask what happened when suddenly someone dragged him by the collar of his night-shirt and pulled him to his feet. Before he could understand what was happening he received a tight slap to his face.

Ash looked up and saw a very angry man glaring down at him. The man was wearing a blue uniform and the badge on his chest made it clear that he was working for the Super Seven.

"Don't you dare slap him," Gary growled but the man ignored him.

"What is the meaning of all this boy? How dare you touch a Pokémon? Do you have the permission to touch the Pidgey?" he asked sternly.

"No but I -" Ash didn't knew what to say. He knew it was against the rules for the common public to touch or interact with Pokémon.

"But the Pidgey was hurt," Ash replied defensively, "I was just trying to help him."

"If it was hurt, you should have informed the authorities. You shouldn't have interfered yourself," the man said.

"There was no time to inform the authorities. The Pidgey was losing too much blood," the boy who was tying the bandage to Pidgey's wing spoke up.

"Don't make excuses," the man said roughly, "I am going to arrest both of you under the charge of illegally interacting with a Pokémon."

Ash couldn't believe this. This man was actually planning on sending him and the young boy to jail when all they had been doing was to try and help a Pokémon.

"Excuse me sir," Gary spoke in a smooth tone, "Maybe you would like to have a talk with my grandfather before arresting these two."

"Who is your grandfather and why should I bother with him?" the man asked rudely.

"My grandfather is the famous researcher Professor Oak," Gary told him.

The man looked surprised for a moment. Then he said, "You are bluffing, right? You can't be related to him."

"If you don't believe it we can go to his house right now and you will find out the truth," Gary said, "And I am telling you he won't like it when he finds out that you have been planning to arrest my friend over here. He is quite fond of him."

The man looked like he was unsure of what to do. Professor Oak was a highly respected person in Pallet town and had quite a celebrity status. Even though he didn't worked for the rulers, his word still carried a lot of weight in Pallet town. It did not bode well to be on Professor Oak's bad side.

Finally, he released Ash, picked up the Pidgey and said, "I am letting you go just this once boy. Because you have connections with Professor Oak. But if I catch you near Pokémon again, I would personally make sure that you are thrown behind bars for it."

Once he had left, the boy said to Ash, "Whew that was a close one. It was lucky that your friend over here is Professor Oak's grandson. By the way, my name is Tommy, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Tommy," Ash said and shook hands with him. Leaf and Gary also introduced themselves to him.

"I am going to start High School this year. You three must be my seniors right?" he asked them.

"Actually we have graduated from High School. We are going to Pokémon University in a few weeks," Ash told him proudly.

The color drained from Tommy's face rapidly. He looked at the three of them in shock. "You are going to _that_ _place_?" he inquired.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?" Ash asked him.

"You saw how this man was treating us just now. And yet, you are going to a place which would be under the control of people like him?" Tommy asked incredulously.

Ash felt stumped. He didn't knew what to say. He looked around at Gary and Leaf who seemed to be equally confused about what to say in response.

"But that man was only talking to us like that because we were touching Pidgey without permission. At the Poké Uni we will have permission to interact with Pokémon so it wouldn't be a problem," Ash told him.

Tommy shook his head. "Can't believe you are defending the man who just slapped you. I get that you want to become friends with Pokémon but you are going about it the wrong way," with that said he turned around and left.

Ash continued to stare at his retreating form, feeling confused and conflicted until Gary put a hand on his shoulder, "Come, let's get you back to your home Ash. You need to change your clothes, you can't spend the whole day in pajamas."

"Why is everyone so against our going to the Poké Uni?" Ash wondered.

"They think we are going to become the Super Seven's slaves by going over there," Leaf grumbled.

"Let's not think about it guys. Let's just concentrate on our future, which is obviously going to be very bright," Gary said.

Ash smiled at him. He agreed. He fully imagined there to be bright future ahead for the three of them. Little did he knew, how wrong he was.

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 **Author Note:- Hope you liked the chapter. Please review! :-)**

 **Also, can you guess all the members of the Super Seven correctly? AND can you guess who all would become Ash's friends at the Pokémon University?**


	3. Separating

**Hello everyone! As usual, thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews! They are truly encouraging.**

 **Chapter 3- Separating**

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Ash Ketchum was currently aboard a ship with Gary and Leaf, making their way towards Glass Island. The Pokémon University was located on this isolated island away from all the main regions.

Ash still remembered his not-so-good parting with his mother. Delia had barely looked at her son as she had handed him his backpack which contained freshly laundered clothes and lunch. Their parting had felt forced. And Ash had felt as though his mother was barely restraining herself from crying as she waved goodbye to him.

He himself was on the verge of crying. He had never left his mother and gone to live elsewhere. But he knew that if he had to pursue higher studies and get closer to Pokémon this was his only option. So with a heavy heart he had waved back at her and left Pallet town. He knew he would return during the vacations but there was still something about the parting that hadn't felt right to him. As though his mother was hiding something from him, something important.

Ash was pulled out of these thoughts as Leaf said loudly, "And here we are!"

They were standing on the deck of the ship. Ash turned to look where Gary and Leaf were staring and noticed a massive island slowly come in view.

Ash noticed how Gary was staring at the island. His jaw wide open in surprise and awe, his green eyes sparkling with excitement and his spiky brown hair getting ruffled by the salty winds of the sea.

"Beautiful," Ash whispered.

"Who, the island or Gary?" Leaf asked teasingly.

"Shut up Leaf! I obviously meant the island," Ash said immediately, realizing that his cheeks were heating up.

"What are you two talking about?" Gary, who had obviously missed their little exchange, asked them.

"Nothing, just talking about the island," Ash replied hastily. He then turned to stare at the island and couldn't hold back a gasp. It was the most beautiful island he had ever seen, not that he had travelled a lot or seen a lot of islands, but still he could tell that not many would match it in beauty.

Glass island was lush green, covered with forests as far as Ash could see. He noticed tall mountain ranges in the distance and remembered what he'd been told at school, that there was heavy snowfall at the top of the mountains on this island. Sparkling cerulean blue waters surrounded the island. As their ship got closer and closer to the island Ash noticed spotlessly clean beaches made of glistening sand at the edges of the island. A few water-type Pokémon were splashing about and happily swimming in the waters. Ash recognized Goldeen, Corsola and Luvdisc. There were a few others which he couldn't recognize.

Their ship docked at a port and they went to stand in a line to disembark from the ship. Ash looked around him and saw that the people waiting to get off the ship were all teenagers who looked to be around his age. He wondered whether they all were also students selected for the Pokémon University.

Many of the students were in a hurry and there was a lot of pushing going on. Ash accidentally stepped on the toes of someone behind him.

"Ouch! Hey, can't you see where you are going?" an angry female voice spoke from behind him.

"I- I am sorry, someone pushed me and-" Ash stopped mid-sentence as he stared at the girl behind him. She was a very pretty girl with honey-blond hair and bright blue eyes. But what really made Ash pause in mid-sentence was the way she was staring at him. As though she was remembering something.

"It is you," she whispered. Ash felt startled by the sudden recognition in her tone. He wondered whoever she was but there was no time to make further conversation. The crowd was pushing quite roughly and Ash had to keep moving forward. When he glanced back a second time the pretty girl had disappeared and someone else was standing over there. He shook his head and concentrated on getting off from the ship.

They disembarked from the ship and Ash noticed a young girl, slightly older than him standing at the bottom. She was blond, and was wearing a black shirt with a capital R on it, and a white skirt. She waved and gestured at all of them to come to her.

"Who do you think she is?" Ash questioned.

"Someone from the Poké Uni probably," Gary answered.

Ash, Gary, Leaf and all the other teenagers made their way towards the girl.

"Welcome students," she said with a smile, "Congratulations on getting yourself enrolled in the world's best University. Please follow me."

Ash and others followed her as she set down a road towards the University. Ash kept glancing around but couldn't locate the pretty girl. So busy he was staring around like a buffoon that he accidentally collided with Gary who was walking right ahead of him.

"Oi, watch out Ashy-boy!" Gary complained as he caught the stumbling Ash in his arms. Ash blushed the moment he realized that Gary's arms were around him. He hastily straightened up and freed himself from Gary's arms.

"Oh, look, they are so adorable!" someone shrieked from behind them. Ash turned around to find a cute brunette and an equally cute bluenette laughing at the two of them as though he and Gary had just done something funny.

Ash looked at Gary who was looking quite flustered by the small incident. Ash couldn't understand why though.

They all followed the blond girl deeper into the forests for what felt like more than an hour. Some of the students had started complaining about the long walk. After what felt like an eternity, they reached a large clearing in the middle of the forest.

Ash gasped for a second time that day as he stared at what lay in front of him. There was a giant gate made of bronze and steel right in front of them. Beyond the gates, Ash could see a group of buildings arranged in a neat semi-circle around a main building which was massive in size. It was made of pure white marble and the words Pokémon University were emblazoned in bright golden letters at the top of it. The buildings around the main building were of various different shapes, sizes and colors. Ash wondered why it was so.

"Please follow me inside the main building," the girl who was leading them spoke. The students followed her inside.

They came to a halt in a large hall which was lined with statues of legendary Pokémon. Ash could vaguely recognize Moltres, Entei and Celebi from his textbooks. The statues looked quite intimidating and real.

Ash turned his attention to the rest of the room. It was lined with beautiful furniture. There were ornate study tables, around which groups of senior students were sitting and studying. Ash really liked the atmosphere of that place.

Just then, a door to their right opened up and out stepped a man in an orange suit and red tie. He was surrounded by bodyguards wearing a black uniform with the letter R printed on their shirts. Everyone in the hall immediately stood up the moment they saw him.

Almost all the newcomers gasped. Ash knew that everyone had recognized who the man was. For his greatness had been mentioned in every single textbook that Ash had read and he was daily praised by every single news channel and newspaper. He was none other than Lord Giovanni himself. The boss of an organization called Team Rocket and the leader of the Super Seven.

"Welcome students," he spoke in a deep and sinister sounding voice, "Welcome to the Pokémon University. As the head of this university, it is my honor to have such young and talented people over here. Before you are properly enrolled, we would be deciding which department you would be studying in."

There was a lot of confused murmur. Ash guessed that he wasn't the only one who didn't knew what departments he was talking about.

"There are a total of eighteen departments, each one specializing in a different Pokémon type, such as ground, fairy, fire etc. You would be giving an aptitude test which would determine which department you would be enrolled in," Giovanni told them, "Once your department has been selected, there would be no changing. You would be studying about that Pokémon-type only."

He paused and continued, his voice becoming even more sinister than before, "You all must be wondering, why the leader of the Super-Seven has arrived in person to inform this to you, isn't it?" There were some nervous nods in response to his question.

"It is because, I want to warn you about one particular thing in person. None of you shall ever own or train more than one type of Pokémon. If you are ever found doing this, you would be labeled as a Variant and would be immediately thrown out of this University and into jail," he told everyone.

"What is a Variant, sir?" a blond boy asked Giovanni.

"Anyone who owns or trains more than one type of Pokémon is called a Variant. It is an illegal thing to do and may even result in capital punishment," Giovanni told him. The blond boy gulped nervously.

"I will now take your leave. Domino, here, will assign the aptitude test to you. All the best for it!" Giovanni ended his speech and exited, his bodyguards following him closely.

"That was creepy," Leaf whispered as soon as he left.

"I hope we all get the same department," Ash whispered back. He badly wanted his two best friends to be with him.

"I am not sure about it Ashy. It all depends on the result of that test," Gary whispered.

"Well, all of you, follow me please," Domino spoke in a formal yet polite tone. The students followed her once again. She took them up the stairs and into a wide corridor. There was a large classroom on the right side at the end of the corridor.

They entered the classroom. There were hundreds of benches arranged in neat rows inside it. Ash and others seated themselves on the benches. They were handed the question-papers. There were objective questions on the papers and they were supposed to tick the correct answer.

"There are questions about each Pokémon type. You would be chosen for that Pokémon type for which you give the most correct answers," Domino explained, "You have one hour to complete the test."

Ash sighed and looked at the question paper. He knew most answers, it was stuff that had been already taught at his school. He glanced around. Gary had already began answering his paper. Leaf was fidgeting nervously with hers.

Ash turned towards his question paper. The first question was:-

 _Which of the following types has the highest advantage against fire-type Pokémon?_

The options were:-

 _a) Ice b)Fairy c)Grass d)Water_

Ash took a deep breath and began answering the questions.

A bell rang after an hour and all the students stopped writing. Their papers were collected and they were asked to wait outside the classroom.

"I am sure that I'll get the water department!" a red-head girl was beaming and telling her friend.

"I think I'll get the electric department," a blond boy with glasses was telling someone else.

"What do you think guys, which department will we get?" Ash asked Gary and Leaf.

"Dunno, I just hope we are together," Leaf said.

"I don't really have any preference for the types of Pokémon. But I think I got the most correct answers for the questions on fire-types," Gary replied.

Before Ash could say anything in response, the door to the classroom opened and Domino stepped out. She was holding a long list in her hand. Slowly, she started calling out names and assigning departments to them.

"Misty Waterflower! Water-type department!," she called out. The red-head who had been quite confident about getting selected for water-type gave a wide smile and went to sign before her name on Domino's list.

"Brock Harrison! Rock-type department!," Domino called out next. A boy who looked much older than Ash went to sign next to his name. Ash wondered how come he was in their year. He sure looked like a senior student.

Domino continued calling names, after some time she called out, "Gary Oak! Fire-type department!" Gary walked up confidently to sign before his name. Ash just shook his head. Gary had been right as usual. He thought he would be selected for fire-type and that's exactly what he got.

Ash looked at Leaf and both of them exchanged a nervous smile. Their names could be called at any moment.

"Ash Ketchum! Fire-type department!" Domino spoke. Ash's face lit up. He couldn't believe it. He and Gary were going to be in the same department. He happily went to sign on the paper.

Now all they needed was Leaf to end up in the same department and their trio would remain unbreakable as ever.

"Leaf Green! Grass-type department!" Domino said.

Ash and Gary turned to look at a crestfallen Leaf who went to sign looking very disappointed. Ash couldn't believe it. This was just not fair. Leaf couldn't be in a different department.

Leaf wasn't just one of his best friends but was also the reason why he and Gary had finally patched it up and became friends again. She had really helped them a lot to set aside their childish rivalry and get back to being friends.

Ash knew he was going to miss Leaf in his new college but more than that he was nervous about being with Gary without Leaf being there to act as a mediator. She had always been there to calm them down whenever they started arguing. She would be tactful enough to change topic whenever they scooted close to the topic of Ash and Gary's old rivalry. Ash was worried that without her things would get really awkward between him and Gary, and they might even get back to being rivals again.

Ash looked at Gary who was staring fixedly at a spot on the floor. Now it was going to be just the two of them. He hoped they would be able to continue being friends.

* * *

 **Author Note:- Hope you liked the chapter! Please review! :)**


	4. Making Friends!

**Author Note:- Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favs. They mean a lot and are truly encouraging.**

 **Chapter 4:- Making Friends!**

* * *

"It's okay guys. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. And Ash, don't cry," Leaf was consoling Ash and Gary but to no avail. Both the boys looked heartbroken about their trio not being together any more. Ash had in fact started crying because he had always wanted them to be together.

"I am gonna miss you," he mumbled.

"I'll miss you two Ash, but hey it's not as if we won't be seeing each other every day. We are going to be in the same campus, just different departments, so we would be still seeing each other a lot," Leaf said.

"But you won't be studying with us anymore! You will have different subjects, and different type of Pokémon! And new friends as well! You will forget us," Ash said, he just couldn't keep it inside himself.

"Don't be ridiculous Ash! I won't forget you!" Leaf said and hugged him. Ash hugged her back tightly. Gary hugged the two of them as well and soon they were in a tightly-knit group hug.

"Ghost-department students, come here please," the three of them looked up from their hug. A very old woman with dark black eyes and greying blond hair was addressing all the students selected for the ghost-type department.

"Water-types, come here please," a man called out the water-dept. students. Ash saw the red-head hurry towards that group.

"Grass-type students come here!" a slightly aged looking man called out.

"Goodbye guys, I'll see you later," Leaf said to Ash and Gary and hurried towards the group that was assembling around that old man.

"So now it's just the two of us Ashy-boy," Gary said with a little wink, "How do you think the fire-type dept. would be?"

"I hope it's good," Ash answered. 'And I hope you continue being good', he thought to himself. He still sometimes remembered Gary's teasings and as a result didn't fully trust him. And now even Leaf wasn't going to be there to help in case some problem occurred between him and Gary.

"Fire-type department students, line up over here please!" a young girl who had red hair and red eyes called out loudly.

"That's us," Gary said. He and Ash made their way towards the girl. Ash looked around and his eyes widened. The pretty girl from the ship was also present over there, apparently she had been selected for fire dept. too. The moment she noticed Ash, she blushed furiously.

"Hey everyone, my name is Flannery! I am one of your teachers and also in-charge of all the newcomers. Hope you all will have a great time learning new things from me!" she said enthusiastically.

"Aren't you a little too young to be our teacher?" one of the students asked doubtfully.

"Aren't you a little too rude to ask such a question?" Flannery retorted back, but eventually said, "I have only recently been appointed for the teaching job. I replaced my grandfather who retired from this job to become a poet."

"You used to be a gym-leader, right?" a beautiful brunette girl, with sapphire blue eyes asked her.

"How do you- oh wait, of course. Your dad must have told you, right?" Flannery asked the girl, who nodded in response. "So, you must be May Maple? Norman's daughter?"

The brunette girl nodded again.

Ash was surprised to see May receiving several hateful looks from most of the students. Some of them even started whispering and making snide remarks about her.

"She is the daughter of that nasty rebel named Norman," someone spoke.

"Yeah, her father is against the Super Seven," another whispered.

"Alright, all of you shut up now!" Flannery said angrily, "I won't have you badmouth your classmate like that. The next person who says anything bad about May will receive detention."

Once she was certain that all the students had stopped staring at and whispering about May, she said, "Okay then, follow me!"

Ash and others followed her out of the main building. She stopped in front of a building which was painted in bright orange colors. There was a bright flame burning at the top of the building.

"This is the building for the fire-type dept. You would be studying here. The dormitories are located at the backside of the building. Let me give all of you a tour," she offered.

All of the students followed her as she showed them the different classrooms, labs, battle stadiums, contest stage and of course, the fire-Pokémon reserve.

There were row upon row of Pokéballs filled with various different fire-types over there. Ash saw the greedy expressions on some of the students' faces. They couldn't wait to lay their hands on those Pokéballs.

Finally, the students reached the dormitories. Flannery showed them their rooms. Two students had to share a room between themselves. Ash saw May move inside a room with the pretty girl. After that Flannery moved towards him and showed him his room. He was just about to ask who his room-mate was going to be, when Flannery turned towards Gary and said, "You are going to share that room with Mr. Ketchum."

Gary's eyes widened as he looked at Ash and smirked. Once both of them had carried their luggage inside the room, they looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I can't believe this! I just can't believe this! We are not just in the same department but we are also going to share a room!" Gary exclaimed.

"Yeah that's great!" Ash said, "Now I can pester you to help me in studies all the time. You have no option."

"I don't find it pestering Ashy, I like to help you with your studies," Gary told him. Ash smiled upon hearing that.

They unpacked their bags and got changed. Ash and Gary had always been around each other so they felt quite comfortable changing clothes in front of each other.

"Let's go and meet the other students!" Ash declared, once they were feeling fresh.

"We'll be seeing them tomorrow anyways Ash, what's the hurry?" Gary asked him.

"I want to meet all of them NOW Gary! It would be so cool to make new friends over here," Ash said and dragged Gary along with him to meet the other students.

They saw a boy with sharp brown eyes standing in the lobby just outside their room. Ash ran upto him and introduced himself, "Hello! My name is Ash. I am from Pallet town in Kanto. Nice to meet you!"

The boy raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Hello," was all that he said.

"What's your name?" Ash asked in a cheerful tone.

"Kiawe," the boy answered. He really looked like he wanted to be left alone.

"Ash let's go, we shouldn't disturb him," Gary whispered and dragged Ash away from Kiawe.

"Let's find someone else!" Ash, who wasn't going to be disappointed so soon, said.

He walked a little further and saw the pretty girl sitting on a chair on her own. She was busy sewing something. Ash wanted to find out why she had seemed to recognize him and why she had blushed at him earlier. So he went upto her and said, "Hello! I am Ash. What's your name?"

She looked at him and became as red as the hat she was wearing. "He-hello," she stuttered, looking lost for words, "My name is Serena."

Ash didn't knew why but Gary seemed to be fuming from besides him. He decided to ignore that and asked her, "You seemed to recognize me earlier? Do you know me?"

She blushed deeper if that was even possible and said, "I had met you once, when we were kids."

"I used to be around Ash all the time when he was a kid and I don't remember you," Gary said in a tone which wasn't exactly friendly.

She turned her attention from Ash to Gary and asked, "Are you saying that I am lying?"

"Well if Ash and I both don't remember you, then that obviously means-" he was stopped in mid-sentence by Ash who suddenly exclaimed,

"Hey! I remember you now! You are that straw-hat girl, right?"

"You-you remember me?" the girl asked looking surprised. She blushed some more and was about to say something when someone called her, "Serena, come here!"

"Oh, I have to leave. I'll see you around next time Ash," she said with a smile and left.

Ash turned towards Gary and was surprised to see him looking really angry. "What the hell was that?" he asked angrily, "How come you know that girl?"

"Why? Am I not allowed to know people without you knowing them as well? You don't have to know every single detail of my childhood Gary!" Ash said feeling equally angry.

"Why were you talking to her anyways?" Gary grumbled.

"I was trying to make a friend! I don't get what's so wrong with that," Ash replied.

"Did you saw how she was staring at you? She was blushing the whole freaking time!" Gary responded.

"So?" Ash asked.

"I think she has a crush on you," Gary replied.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ash said, "It can't be that because-" he stopped mid-sentence as he heard a painful shriek and lots of booing from somewhere behind the lobby. Ash and Gary looked at each other, both of them looking equally worried.

"Let's go and see!" Ash said immediately and hurried in the direction with Gary running behind him.

They saw that a group of guys had cornered someone at the backside of the building. They ran down the stairs and saw that it was May.

"After what your father tried to do, you shouldn't even be allowed in this University! I don't understand how they gave you admission," one of the boys said.

"I don't agree with my father's views. I had made that clear in my application for admission," May stated calmly.

"I think you are lying! Your parents are against the Super Seven and we need to teach you a lesson for that," one of the guys threatened her.

"You are not going to teach any lessons to anyone" Ash shouted at the top of his voice.

That guy turned behind and stared down at Ash. He was much taller than him.

"Who do you think you are to interfere like that? You don't know how much it would cost you to try stopping us," the boy threatened. He had a Pokéball in his hand.

Ash realized that he was a senior student who had already received Pokémon. As Ash didn't yet had any Pokémon of his own, he wouldn't be able to battle with him. But that didn't stopped him from trying to defend May.

"Leave her alone! It's against the rules to harass junior students," he said.

"And what if I don't listen to you?" the tall guy asked.

"We'll complain about you to the authorities," Ash replied.

"Not just that, my grandfather also happens to be the famous Professor Oak," Gary supplied, "It won't be good for you if he finds out that you were troubling a junior student."

"And my father has literally got the entire Petalburg City under his command. I would feel very sorry for you if you don't back up right now," May said sternly.

The senior students looked quite shaken by Gary's and May's threats. Slowly, they turned around and left but not before their leader gave Ash a nasty withering look.

"Thanks guys," May said to Ash and Gary once those students had left. She smiled at the two of them.

"No problem, your name is May, right?" Ash asked her, she nodded. "My name is Ash. I am from Pallet town, which is located in Kanto region."

"I am from Petalburg City in Hoenn," May told him. "And are you really the grandson of the famous Professor Oak?" she asked Gary.

"Yeah, he is my grandpa. Both of us live in Pallet town too," Gary replied with a smile. For once he didn't seemed to be annoyed by Ash's efforts to make new friends.

"Wow, my brother would love to meet you and your grandpa. He has read lots of books about him and is a fan," May told him.

"Why did you decide to join this University?" Ash asked her, "It's not safe for you. Someone might attack you because of your father."

"I know," May muttered, "But I had my reasons."

"What reasons?" Ash asked. He just couldn't understand how someone could take such a risk.

May looked like she didn't knew what to say in response. "I should leave now," she said suddenly, "It was nice meeting both of you."

"It was nice meeting you too May. If you need any help you can always contact us," Ash offered.

"Thanks, I'll remember that," May said and turned to leave.

"Hmm," Gary said, looking at her retreating back, "She is definitely hiding something from us."

"Maybe, but what does it matter?" Ash said.

"I want to know what's her secret," Gary said stubbornly.

"People don't _have_ to tell us their secrets. You can be so immature at times Gary," Ash said with a sigh.

"Wait a minute, _you_ are calling _me_ immature? Have you ever looked in a mirror Ketchum?" Gary retorted.

Ash rolled his eyes and started walking back towards their room. Gary followed him muttering under his breath the whole time about how Ash was the immature one.

Ash halted in front of a line of phone booths. Most of the new students were calling their family to inform them that they had safely arrived at the University.

"What do you think? Should we call my mom and your grandpa too?" Ash asked Gary.

"Yeah, sure," Gary replied.

They went near an empty phone and Ash dialed his mom's number. No sooner had it started ringing, it was immediately picked up by Delia Ketchum.

"Ash, how are you? Did you reached the University safely? And how is Gary? Is he with you?" he could see the anxious face of his mom on the screen as she asked him a load of questions.

"I am right here Mrs. Ketchum," Gary said and waved at her.

"We are alright mom, and yes we reached the Uni safely," Ash told her. He then started retelling all the events that had happened on the island to his mother. Ash wasn't sure, but he felt as though a dark shadow crossed his mother's face when he mentioned Giovanni's visit. He knew she hated the Super Seven in general but the way she reacted upon hearing Giovanni's name was too specific and hard not to miss.

But it wasn't until he told her how the girl named May was being treated by their seniors that he saw her temper flare up. Delia looked extremely angry and said, "That's horrible! It's good that you both helped her, but don't you see? The people over there are not nice and can be dangerous. You are not safe over there!"

"Relax mom, we are alright," Ash tried to reassure her.

"And is Norman's daughter alright?" Delia asked him.

"Yeah, she is good too," Gary told her.

"You need to hear this," a voice said from behind Delia. Professor Oak appeared on the screen.

"What is it Gramps?" Gary asked him.

"There are rumors that the Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre have been captured by the Super Seven in Hoenn region. Their leaders Archie and Maxie are apparently in a fight over whose power they should use. One wants to expand land and the other wants to expand the sea," Professor Oak told them.

"But aren't these just rumors and speculations?" Ash asked him.

"Where do you even hear such rumors gramps?" Gary asked, shaking his head.

"I have my sources young man," Professor Oak said with a slight smile but became serious again as he said, "These are the kind of things that the Super Seven do. The sooner you understand how dangerous they can be the better for you."

"We feel really worried about you two," Delia said looking concerned.

Ash wanted to reassure them more and tell them that he and Gary were safe but at that precise moment the bell for dinner went off.

"It's dinner time mom, I'll talk to you later," Ash said.

"Smell ya later gramps," Gary added.

Both Professor Oak and Delia said their goodbyes and then Ash hung the phone. He turned towards Gary and asked, "So, where do we have dinner?"

"I am not sure, we'll have to ask someone. But I think the students from all the departments have dinner in the same area so we'll get to see Leaf," Gary replied.

"Brilliant!" Ash exclaimed. He followed Gary as they went to ask about dinner to a couple of students. Ash was feeling double happy because of the prospect of eating food and getting to see Leaf.

"There is a purple colored building with pink roof just behind our fire dept. building. That's the dining pavilion and the students from all the departments dine over there together," a senior student answered when Gary asked him where they were supposed to go.

Ash and Gary spotted the building easily. The aroma of delicious food was wafting from the open doors and windows of the building. They entered the building, it was crowded with students and staff members from all the departments. They were confused as hell until Gary spotted a map on a wall.

"Look, there are foods of every region on a different floor. Kanto-style food is provided on the fourth floor. I think we'll find Leaf over there," Gary said to him.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ash said.

They hurried towards the fourth floor and sure enough Leaf was sitting over there at a table talking with the red-head girl from water-type department.

"Hey guys! Come sit over here," Leaf said merrily the moment she saw Ash and Gary.

Both of them went to sit at her table.

"This is Misty. She is in the water-type department. She is also from Kanto," Leaf told them.

"Hey, I am Ash, from Pallet town," Ash introduced himself.

"I am from Cerulean city," Misty told him, "And I have heard of Pallet town. That's the place where the famous Professor Oak resides, right?"

"Yep. And Gary over here is his grandson," Ash gestured towards him.

"Hello," Gary said politely.

Once their introductions were done, the four of them went to order their food. Ash felt that although the food wasn't as good as his mom's cooking, it was still good enough and he enjoyed eating it.

The four of them talked about their first day at the Uni and their different departments. Ash was about to ask something to Misty but he saw her staring at someone behind him. All of a sudden, she stood up and said, "Well, it was nice meeting all of you. But I must leave now. I am in a hurry, sorry."

Ash couldn't understand whatever made her leave so abruptly. He shook his head and turned towards Gary and Leaf. They talked some more until finally Leaf said that she had to go back to the grass dept. building.

"So it's back to the two of us Ashy," Gary said once Leaf had left.

"Let's go back to our room," Ash muttered and stood up.

"Why are you like this? Don't you like spending time with me?" Gary asked him.

"It's not that Gary-" Ash began but Gary interrupted,

"Yes it is! You have been running after other people for the whole day and barely paying any attention towards me! You have been just ignoring me all day!" Gary said angrily.

"I wasn't ignoring you!" Ash said feeling equally angry. He felt like he had been giving Gary enough attention. He couldn't understand what else he wanted.

'One day without Leaf and we are already fighting', Ash thought to himself. He didn't wanted things to be like this between him and Gary but didn't knew how to make it better.

Wordlessly, he turned around and started walking back towards the fire-type building. Gary followed him silently. Neither of them spoke a word as they walked towards their room.

Once they were inside, Ash didn't even bothered to change into his pajamas. He jumped straight onto his bed and fell asleep.

* * *

 **Author Note:- Hope you liked it! Please review! :-)**


	5. Hatching

**Hello once again everyone! Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favs! Let's get to the next chapter.**

 **Chapter Five:-Hatching**

* * *

Ash Ketchum was standing in a beautiful green field. Cute little Pokémon were playing in the soft grass near him. A wide smile crept across his face as he saw a Sentret being chased by a Raticate. He felt someone rubbing themselves against his leg and looked down to see a small Chikorita over there. Ash bend down and gently scooped up the tiny little grass-type in his arms. Suddenly, a Pikachu jumped on his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek.

"Pika!" the Pokémon exclaimed happily.

Ash looked around and recognized a Bulbasaur and a Charmander playing with each other. Just behind them, a Squirtle was playing with an Eevee.

Everyone looked happy, contended and at peace. Ash wished everything would remain just like this. He wished that he would be surrounded by these beautiful creatures forever.

But just like how every good dream must come to an end, Ash's peaceful dream was interrupted by a sudden and violent flood. Everyone got drenched in water and Ash started feeling as though he was drowning.

"Help! Help!" he shouted at the top of his voice and all of a sudden he sat up on his bed.

"Morning, loser," Gary's voice came from besides him. Ash looked up to see Gary standing next to his bed with an empty bucket in his hands.

Ash finally realized. He had been dreaming and Gary had woken him up (quite rudely) by throwing a bucketfull of cold water on him.

"Couldn't you have woken me up in a less unpleasant manner?" he asked feeling annoyed.

"I had been doing exactly that for the past half an hour but you weren't even budging slightly. That's why I threw the water as a last-minute resort. Now hurry up Ashy, or we'll be late for breakfast," Gary said to him.

"Okay, okay, I am getting ready," Ash said as he got up and collected fresh clothes from his bag before hurrying towards the bathroom. He mentally wondered that the University must be really rich to provide a separate bathroom in every room.

Once he was washed, dressed and ready, he joined Gary who was already ready. 'One step ahead as always', Ash thought to himself and shook his head.

They entered the dining pavilion and went on the fourth floor to find Leaf sitting in the same seat where she had been yesterday. They couldn't locate Misty though. They ordered their breakfast and sat chatting about how their first day of lectures would be.

"Um, did you two had an argument yesterday?" Leaf asked them all of a sudden.

"No, why?" Gary asked quickly. Ash found it odd that Gary wanted to hide yesterday's argument from Leaf. Usually, they told her everything.

"Just the way you were looking at each other and avoiding to directly talk to each other," Leaf explained rolling her eyes.

"It's nothing like that. We are fine," Gary told her. But judging from Leaf's expression, Ash could tell that she didn't believed him.

After breakfast, they were given their time-tables. Ash went over the time-table in his hand and said,

"So we have Pokémon Theory in ten minutes, and after that we have Pokémon Caring. The next two periods are after the lunch. So, does this mean that we have only four subjects?" Ash wondered.

"Yep. We have four subjects for this semester and the entire course is of four years, so we'll have a total of eight semesters," Gary explained.

"The number of subjects increases with each year. I have heard that the fourth-year students have more than ten subjects for their last semester," Leaf told him.

"Well, atleast it would be easy in the beginning," Ash muttered, although he was feeling that it would be anything but easy.

The bell rang and Leaf immediately stood up. "That's the bell for our first lecture. I'll have to go back to the grass-dept. building. Bye guys," Leaf said and left.

"See ya later," both Ash and Gary said and stood up to go the fire-type building.

They had to search a little bit to find the correct classroom, but eventually ended up finding it.

The walls of that classroom were lined with books from top to bottom. The room had a sort of studious feel to it. Ash noticed that almost all the benches were occupied and most of the heads turned in their direction the moment he and Gary entered the classroom.

"You are late," a sharp voice spoke from behind a stack of books.

"Um, sorry, we lost our way and couldn't find the right classroom," Ash mumbled apologetically.

"The classrooms were listed on the notice-board. You would have found it had you bothered to look," the sharp voice chided them. Finally, a figure emerged from behind the stack of books. She was a girl who looked like she was in her late-twenties. She had shocking pink hair and bright orange eyes.

"There are two empty seats at the back of the class," she pointed out. Ash and Gary quietly went to sit over there.

"So, now we can finally start our lecture. Let me first introduce myself. My name is -" but before she could speak any further, Serena gasped loudly.

"I know who you are! You are Malva, right? The famous news reporter from Kalos?" Serena asked, her eyes gleaming with amazement.

"Yes that's me, but more importantly than that, I am your teacher so it would be better if you erase the image of me being a news-reporter from your mind. I am here to teach all of you and let me tell you, I can be very strict," Malva spoke in an almost threatening tone. Ash wondered whether it was okay to speak with students like this.

"You were also a member of the Kalos Elite Four, right?" May asked her.

"Yes, back when the leagues existed, I was a member of the Elite Four. But after Super Seven took over, they cancelled all the leagues. I was given the option of either handling over my Pokémon or working for the Super Seven. That's how I became a member of the famous Team Flare, led by our benevolent leader, Lysandre," Malva told her.

Ash saw a dark shadow pass over May's face upon hearing Lysandre being called benevolent. But luckily, she didn't said anything.

The Pokémon Theory lecture was really boring. Malva handed out thick leather-bound books to all of them and started teaching them the first chapter which was called 'Introduction to Fire-type Pokémon'. Ash found himself zoning out after every few minutes. He had learned a little of this stuff at his old school and was hence finding all of it boring and repetitive.

He looked sideways and saw Gary paying rapt attention to whatever Malva was teaching. He was sitting straight with the most attentive expression on his face and was nodding his head from time to time which indicated that he understood what was being taught.

Ash let out a low sigh. It was good that Gary was understanding what was being taught. He could just ask him to teach Ash later on. That's how Ash passed most of his subjects anyways, by learning in private tuitions taken by Gary.

"Mr. Ketchum, you are supposed to be paying attention to what I am teaching!" Malva's loud voice pulled Ash out of his thoughts.

"Uh, yes, sorry," Ash said hastily.

"Stop staring at Mr. Oak, and pay attention to what is being taught," Malva said sternly. The entire class laughed. May gave Ash a playful smirk. Ash didn't knew whatever she meant by that.

But for the rest of the lesson he paid attention to what was being taught.

After Pokémon Theory, they had their next lecture called Pokémon Caring. Ash and Gary were really excited about this lecture because it was going to involve direct contact with Pokémon. They were actually going to learn how to handle Pokémon and take care of them.

"And that's not all," Gary said excitedly, "We would also be receiving our starters during the lecture!" he told Ash happily.

Ash smiled upon hearing that. He badly wanted a Pokémon and now he was finally going to get one. He couldn't stop himself from looking forward to it.

They went on the sixth floor of the fire-type building and entered the third classroom on the left-side corridor along with the other students from their year. This time Ash and Gary grabbed the front-row seats before anyone else could occupy them.

Ash stared around the classroom. It was painted in bright blue, pink and yellow colors. The sort of which would appeal to babies or small children. There was also a little play-ground constructed at the back-side of the classroom where various toys, swings, ladders and other items were arranged. The room was making Ash feel as though he was back in kindergarten. It had a bright and cheery feel to it.

"Good Morning students," a voice that sounded extremely old and tired, and quite contradicted with the feel of the room, spoke from the doorway. Ash looked up and saw a man wearing sunglasses step inside the classroom.

"He is wearing a wig," Gary whispered.

Ash looked at his hair. Nothing about it seemed out of order to him.

"How do you know it's a wig?" Ash asked him.

"I just know Ashy," Gary said rolling his eyes.

Their new teacher introduced himself as Blaine. He used to be a gym-leader at Cinnabar Island in Kanto, but had taken up the job of a teacher once the Super Seven had taken over.

"Before we begin, I want to ask all of you a riddle!" Blaine announced.

The entire class sat up straight, interested.

He asked his riddle.

Gary raised his hand and answered it correctly.

Blaine asked another riddle.

Gary answered correctly again.

Blaine asked yet few more riddles, which Gary answered correctly. The entire class was staring at him in amazement.

Blaine finally stopped asking riddles and said to Gary, "You are a really clever boy. And is my guess right that you are Professor Oak's grandson?"

"Yes, he is my grandfather," Gary replied proudly.

"Well, I'll be sure to keep an eye out on you Mr. Oak. I like having clever students in my class," Blaine said.

He then turned towards the rest of the class and asked, "So, you all must be really excited, right? Afterall, you are going to receive your first Pokémon today."

There were several shouts and squeals of excitement from the students. Ash himself couldn't stop the wide smile that spread across his face upon hearing that he would be receiving his first Pokémon today.

"Mag! Magmar!" a voice came from the doorway. Ash turned his head to find a Magmar standing in the doorway with a large crate in his hand.

"Look! It's a Magmar!"

"I have never seen one before!"

The students immediately started shouting with excitement and some even clicked pictures of the Magmar.

"Okay now, calm down everyone. And don't click pictures of my Magmar, he is really shy," Blaine said.

The Magmar placed the crate on a table in front of the class. Ash could see what was in the crate as he was sitting on the first bench itself. He gasped as he realized what they were.

"They are Pokémon eggs!" he breathed.

"Is he going to give them to us?" Gary wondered.

His question was soon answered as Blaine said, "Here in Pokémon Caring class you would be taught how to take care of Pokémon eggs and raise your first Pokémon. You all are old enough to properly look after Pokémon eggs and if there is any difficulty I'll always be here to help."

"But why do we have to start from eggs? Why can't you give us already hatched Pokémon?" Kiawe asked him.

"Because I believe in teaching everything from the basics," Blaine replied.

He then started handing out the eggs to the students. Ash couldn't believe it when he was given a beautiful egg with orange spots on it. He held it gently in his hands. Being careful not to break it accidentally. He couldn't believe that there was a life inside that egg. That a living, breathing Pokémon was going to hatch from it.

He turned to stare at Gary's egg which had bright orange stripes on it. Gary was softly caressing the egg which made Ash smile. It was a rare occasion to see Gary being caring and gentle towards someone.

For the rest of the lesson, Blaine explained them how to look after a Pokémon egg. He gave them a demo and also made them write down notes about the correct way to raise a baby Pokémon.

"These eggs would hatch in three weeks time," he told them, "Till then I would teach you even more about looking after baby Pokémon," he said and dismissed them at the end of the lecture.

Ash and Gary left the classroom with their eggs in hands and went through the time-table which was handed to them during breakfast.

"We have lunch break now Ashy. And the next two periods after that," Gary told him.

"Should we take our eggs with us to the dining pavilion or leave them in our room?" Ash questioned.

"I don't want to be away from my egg even for a second," Gary said, fondly caressing the egg. Ash was getting to see more and more of Gary's caring side and he was really enjoying it.

"Alright, we will take our eggs with us," Ash said.

They reached the dining pavilion and saw Leaf standing near the entrance, waiting for them. She was also clutching an egg in her arms. Ironically, it had leaf-shaped patterns on it.

"Oh," she said staring at the eggs in their hands, "You got them too? Can't believe we are actually going to raise baby Pokémon, right?" she said.

"Yeah, it sounds thrilling but also slightly overwhelming," Gary said.

"I can't wait for my egg to hatch!" Ash said excitedly.

"Me neither!" Leaf replied, and then said, "Hey guys, I was thinking that, what if we try some different food today. I have always wanted to try out Hoenn food. Should we try it out today?"

"Sure! I am always up for trying something new!" Ash replied.

"Yeah, I mean I don't see why we shouldn't," Gary replied.

So they went on the third floor where Hoenn-style food was served. Ash noticed May sitting at a table. The moment she noticed them she smiled and gestured them to come and sit with her.

"Hey May!" Ash said as he went and sat opposite her. Gary and Leaf also sat at the table.

"This is May, our classmate. And May, this is Leaf," Gary introduced them to each other.

"Nice to meet you May," Leaf said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you Leaf. I didn't knew you all were from Hoenn too," she said.

"Actually we are from Kanto, we just came over here to try out Hoenn food," Ash explained.

"Oh, I see. You'll definitely love Hoenn food," May said to them.

"We hope so too," Gary said.

They ordered their food and just as they were waiting for it to come, a girl with dark blue hair ran up to their table and hugged May tightly.

"Dawn! Stop! You are strangling me," May said.

"Guess what, I got my first Pokémon egg today!" the girl named Dawn screeched loudly.

"That's great! I got one too!" May told her. She then turned towards the others and said, "This is my friend Dawn. She is from Sinnoh."

"Hello everyone!" Dawn said and smiled at them.

They introduced themselves to her and then Leaf asked her, "So Dawn, which dept. are you from?"

"Water," Dawn replied with a smile, "I hope I get a Piplup as my starter. They used to be the water-type starters from Sinnoh region back when things were different."

"So you must be knowing the red-head girl called Misty, right? She was having dinner with us last night," Leaf said.

"Yeah I know her. She is my roommate," Dawn told them.

"She disappeared all of a sudden,," Ash remembered, "I didn't understood why she ran away like that."

"I think it's because she is trying to hide from her sisters. They are senior students over here and they tease and insult her a lot. She goes away everytime she sees them," Dawn explained.

"Hmm, that must be it," Ash said. He remembered how Misty had just disappeared last night. He wondered why someone would try to avoid their own sisters so much.

"So, if you are from Hoenn and Dawn is from Sinnoh, how do you know each other?" Leaf asked May.

"Oh that," May laughed and begin to tell her, "When I was a kid, the Pokémon Contests still used to take place and I was a big fan of them. I was especially a fan of Dawn's mother Johanna, who was an excellent Pokémon Coordinator. My dad happened to know her and he took me all the way to Sinnoh to meet her. There I met her daughter, Dawn, and we immediately became great friends. We have been visiting each other regularly since then."

"That's so sweet," Leaf said with a smile.

They all were chatting, laughing and enjoying their lunch when all of a sudden Gary let out a loud gasp. Ash immediately turned towards him and asked, "What happened?"

"This-this egg!"Gary exclaimed, "It's becoming too hot!"

Ash glanced at the egg and sure enough steam was coming from it. It had became red-hot and Gary abruptly kept it on the table instead of holding it in his hands.

"It's too hot! I can't hold it anymore. We need to show this to Professor Blaine immediately," Gary said.

"It looks like smoke is coming out of this egg," May said as she observed it closely.

"We need to see Professor Blaine now," Ash said and got up. But just then, a loud cracking sound came from the egg.

Gary was staring at the egg open-mouthed and shocked. Ash realized what was happening just a moment too late.

"Is it hatching?" he asked nervously.

And sure enough, the first cracking sound was followed by several more similar noises. The egg was cracking open at a top speed. Whichever Pokémon was in there was trying to break the egg using their full strength.

The entire room had gone quiet. All the students had assembled near their table to watch the show.

"Look, a Pokémon is coming out of that egg!" someone whispered excitedly.

"It is hatching!" another student yelled.

All of a sudden, a bright light came from the egg. It cracked open completely and out came a baby Pokémon. Gary and Ash stared at it for a full minute before saying simultaneously,

"It's a Growlithe."

"Grooowliiitheee!" the Pokémon let out a loud howl as it jumped out of the broken egg shell and directly into Gary's arms. It started licking Gary's face affectionatley.

"Aww, the Growlithe thinks you are his mother," May said.

The assembled crowd started applauding for Gary and Growlithe. Several people clapped him on the back and shook hands with him. Apparently having your first Pokémon hatch from an egg was a big event at the University.

But Gary looked like he was in a shock. His eyes met Ash's and Ash understood. Both of them were wondering about the same thing. The Pokémon eggs were supposed to hatch after three weeks. Why had Gary's egg hatched so early?

* * *

 **Author Note:- So, that's it for now folks! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review! :-)**


	6. Growlithe Troubles!

**Hello everyone! Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favs! Let's get to the next chapter!**

 **Chapter Six:- Growlithe Troubles!**

* * *

Ash and Gary were running as fast as they could towards Blaine's office. Gary was holding the baby Growlithe in his arms and was looking really worried. Ash turned to stare at him and asked, "What's up Gary? Why are you looking so worried?"

"Only _my_ egg hatched today. I wonder what that means," Gary told Ash what was bothering him.

"Don't worry Gary, I am sure it means nothing serious. Your egg just hatched a little early that's all," Ash spoke in an attempt to console him.

They reached inside the fire dept. building only to realize that they didn't knew where Blaine's office was located. Ash stopped a passing by student and asked him, "Hey, do you know where Professor Blaine's office is?"

"Third floor, first door on the right," the student told them.

Ash and Gary hurried towards the stairs and started climbing them two at a time. They reached in front of the door of Blaine's office in no time. Ash raised his hand to knock the door but Gary just pushed past him and directly entered the office.

Ash entered after him and looked around the office. His attention immediately went to the pictures hung up on the walls. There were photos of volcanoes, Cinnabar Island, Blaine and his Magmar and some photos of an old man whom Ash couldn't recognize at all.

He looked in front of him and gasped as he saw the same old man sitting behind a desk on which a stack of papers were neatly arranged.

"You could have knocked before entering," the old man spoke in Blaine's voice.

Ash opened his mouth to say something but before he could say anything wrong and embarrass himself, Gary whispered in his ear, "Didn't I told you he was wearing a wig? This is how he looks without it."

"Oh!" Ash exclaimed, not knowing what else to say.

Blaine was scrutinizing them intensely. Finally, he broke his silence and asked, "So, your Pokémon hatched already Gary? Just as I had expected obviously."

"You knew he was going to hatch early? And yet you gave him to me even though I have zero experience handling Pokémon, let alone baby Pokémon," Gary spoke sounding angry.

As if in cue to what Gary was saying, the baby Growlithe burst into tears, crying at the top of its voice. Gary struggled to calm him down, "Hey Growlithe, please calm down! Don't cry, please!" he exclaimed, looking thoroughly baffled and confused.

"Help me with him!" he pleaded to Blaine, "I can't look after him alone."

"Don't worry Gary, I am sure you would be able to handle him. You are Professor Oak's grandson after all," Blaine said.

"Just because I am his grandson doesn't mean that I know how to look after baby Pokémon!" Gary exclaimed.

"But you were looking so confident in my class earlier. And you answered all of my riddles correctly as well," Blaine said.

"That still doesn't mean that I know how to look after baby Pokémon," Gary said.

"Can't you help him and Growlithe? Please?" Ash asked.

"See, I'll explain you what all of this is about," Blaine started, "Every year I select a student from the newcomers, someone who shows their spark by answering my riddles correctly, and then to decide whether they are really talented or not, I give them an egg which hatches much earlier than their classmates' eggs. You have to figure out for yourself how to look after the Growlithe."

"But what if I am not able to? What if something happens to the Growlithe?" Gary asked, sounding scared. Ash felt worried for his friend because he had never heard Gary sound scared before.

Blaine sighed and started pushing the two of them towards the door, "I am sure you will do fine Gary. You are Professor Oak's grandson after all. And I need to eat my lunch now, so please don't disturb me." With that, he closed the door to his office right on Ash and Gary's faces.

"That's ridiculous!" Gary said the moment they were out of his office, "How does he expect me to look after Growlithe when I don't know anything?!"

Ash sighed and placed his hands on Gary's shoulders, "Don't worry Gary," he said, "We'll find out some way of managing it. There must be a book or something on how to look after baby Pokémon."

"I suppose so," Gary muttered and then looked down at the Growlithe who had by now grown tired of crying and had fallen asleep.

Suddenly the bell indicating the end of their lunch break rang.

"What's the next period?" Gary asked Ash.

Ash consulted his time-table and replied, "Beauty of Attacks."

They scanned the notice-board for the classroom and soon found it without much difficulty. Ash and Gary hurried to the classroom, with Gary holding a sleeping Growlithe and Ash clutching his egg tightly in his hands.

As they entered the classroom, Ash noticed that all the benches had been arranged on the sides and a big stage had been placed in the centre of the classroom. The smell of perfumes was thick in the air and Ash immediately scrunched his nose, he had never liked the scent of perfumes.

"Okay everyone, have a seat already," Flannery, who was standing on the centre-stage, said to all of them. Quickly the students filled into the empty seats.

"Now, you all must be wondering whatever happens in Beauty of Attacks, right? Well, the answer is simple. Here you are taught how to use your Pokémon's attacks in a beautiful yet powerful manner. How to show off your Pokémon's beauty, coolness, cuteness, power and other aspects," Flannery explained.

"That sounds a lot like Pokémon contests," May said.

"And also like the Kalos queen competition that happens in my region," Serena said.

"Yes, this is inspired from those events. Although the Super Seven had felt that those events were useless and had shut them down, we still felt that some aspects of those events must be taught to students. Hence, you would be taught in this class, how to make your attack stunning and spectacular at the same time," Flannery said.

Ash saw that both May and Serena were fuming. Apparently, they didn't liked Pokémon contests and Kalos queen competitions being called useless.

"So, since none of your Pokémon have hatched yet, I was thinking of using my Camerupt and giving a demo to all of you-" Flannery was interrupted by a loud growl from Gary's lap,

Growlithe had woken up from his sleep and was now staring around the classroom curiously.

Flannery noticed him. "Oh, so your Pokémon hatched already Mr. Oak?" she asked Gary. Everyone in the room immediately turned to stare at him.

"Uh yes," Gary answered, somewhat nervously.

"Well, then I can use both of you to show a demo instead! The students would understand better if one of them was performing," she said.

"Come on the stage," she instructed.

Gary rather nervously went on the stage, still holding Growlithe firmly in his arms.

"So Gary, what moves can your Growlithe do?" Flannery asked him.

"He is a newborn, what moves do you think he would know?" Gary retorted back rather angrily.

"Oh, right sorry. Hmm, how about you ask him to do the move ember? Let's see if he can do it?" Flannery suggested.

"Isn't it a little too early for ember? Maybe we should start with moves like bite or roar?" Gary said.

"But there is nothing interesting about those moves," Flannery insisted, "Try ember, it would look beautiful."

""Alright, Growlithe, use ember!" Gary intructed.

Growlithe opened his mouth but only a puff of smoke came out. Most of the students laughed.

"Let's try again, shall we?" Flannery said.

"Growlithe, use ember," Gary repeated.

Growlithe stared at him for a few seconds and then suddenly burst into tears. He started crying at the top of his voice. Gary looked panicked like he didn't knew what to do, he tried calming down Growlithe, but it wasn't working.

Finally Flannery said, "Well, it looks like Growlithe doesn't want to do anything. You can go back to your seat Gary."

Gary left the stage but not before everyone burst out laughing at him. Ash glared angrily at all the students who were treating Gary as though he was some laughing stock.

Gary came and sat beside him and managed to calm down Growlithe after some time. But Ash could clearly see the hurt and pain in his eyes after being laughed at by the other students. Gary had always been the best at their highschool. He was never used to people laughing at him. And nor should he have to become used to it, Ash thought angrily.

Flannery took out her Camerupt from its Pokéball and put up a beautiful performance. It felt as though she and Camerupt were literally dancing in flames. Ash understood what she meant by showing off your Pokémon's strengths in a beautiful yet powerful manner.

He saw May and Serena staring at her, looking mesmerized.

But Ash glanced sideways and saw that Gary still looked unhappy. That was enough to make him forget about the rest of the lesson.

After the lecture was over, Ash and Gary headed towards the next class called Pokémon Dueling. Ash was interested in this one as he had always wanted to take part in Pokémon battles. He was looking forward to it and turned to excitedly discuss about it with Gary, only to find his friend still looking gloomy.

"Cheer up Gary! No one will laugh at you in the next class. And we will learn how to battle!" Ash said.

"Yeah, maybe," Gary muttered, clearly not looking interested in any of it.

They entered their next classroom and Ash let out a loud gasp. This classroom was designed like a battle stadium. Ash looked at the battle-field in the center of the classroom, it looked just like the fields he had seen on television, where two trainers stood in front of each other and battled with their Pokémon.

"Yo trainers! Get seated quickly, we are going to have lots of fun today," a man with bright red hair and grey eyes spoke.

The students sat in the stadium surrounding the battle-field. Their teacher stood in the battle-field and introduced himself, "Hiya! My name is Flint. I used to be a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four, back when the league system existed. Now I have taken up the job of teaching, and I teach the most important subject. Pokémon Dueling!"

A couple of students who were from Sinnoh recognized him, but almost everyone else looked blank.

"So, I think, instead of giving you boring notes about battling in your very first lecture, why not do something a little more interesting? Why not start with the Pokémon battles! Do you all still have Blaine's eggs with you or has any of your Pokémon actually hatched?" Flint looked at them questioningly.

Almost everyone's eyes turned towards Gary, who gulped nervously. Flint turned to look where everybody was staring and his eyes landed on Gary and Growlithe.

"Aha! So you must be the grandson of Professor Oak about whom Blaine was telling me earlier. Can you please come with your Growlithe in the battle-field?"

Gary looked at Ash for a fleeting moment before going with his Growlithe to battle with Flint. Ash closed his eyes. He knew exactly what would happen in the battle and he was not ready for it.

"So, which attacks does your Growlithe know?" Flint asked Gary.

"Erm, we had tried to use ember once," Gary replied lamely. Some of the students sniggered. Ash looked angrily at everyone, trying to find out who was laughing.

"Okay, no problem. We will begin the battle and I'll teach you how to use Growlithe's moves correctly," Flint said.

He and Gary took their respective positions on the opposite ends of the battle-field.

"Go Infernape!" Flint sent a out a large Pokémon, reddish-brown in color with white fur on top of its head, chest and lower legs. It had bright blue eyes and a large flame on top of its head.

Gary's Growlithe whimpered and cowered behind Gary's leg upon noticing the huge Pokémon in front of him. A lot of students laughed.

"So, let's begin the battle!" Flint said as though he hadn't seen Growlithe's reaction. "Ask your Growlithe to use ember."

"Growlithe, use ember!" Gary commanded. But it was of no use. Growlithe simply couldn't do the move.

"Eh, well, ask him to use bite attack," Flint suggested.

"Growlithe, bite Infernape!" Gary ordered. But to no avail. Growlithe seemed simply frozen by the sudden atmosphere of battle and really looked like he didn't wanted to battle Infernape.

"Well, looks like we'll have to finish this. Infernape use flamethrower," Flint commanded but before Infernape could do anything, Ash shouted,

"Stop it! Stop the battle! Don't you realize, Growlithe doesn't want to battle. You will hurt him seriously if you continue!"

"Battles help Pokémon become stronger. No Pokémon refuses to battle as they know that whether they win or lose they would always gain more experience," Flint replied, he then turned towards Gary and said, "If your Pokémon doesn't want to battle then it only means that he is a coward. And he is probably learning it from his trainer."

Gary glared at him.

"If you and your Pokémon don't improve and show interest in Pokémon battles there would be no place for you in this class," Flint warned him.

Gary turned to go back to his seat but Flint said a final thing to him before he could leave, "I had expected better from you, especially since you are Professor Oak's grandson."

Gary angrily returned to his seat next to Ash. He was fuming and glaring at anyone who dared to laugh at him. Ash placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "It's okay Gary. We'll talk about this later, okay?"

Gary silently nodded. Ash could see tears forming at the corners of his eyes. He had never been humiliated like this at their old school. He had always been popular, well-liked and a favorite of all the teachers. This was a new experience for him and Ash could tell that it was difficult for him.

After Flint's lecture was over, Ash and Gary headed back towards their dormitories with Growlithe and Ash's egg. As Flint's was the last lecture of the day, they were free for the rest of the day.

As they passed students on their way most of them pointed at Gary and laughed openly. Ash had almost grabbed a guy by his collar for laughing at Gary, and Gary had to literally plead with him to let him go and almost drag Ash away from him.

They had just reached their room, when they heard a shout from behind.

"Ash, Gary wait!" May Maple was shouting and running towards them.

"May? What happened?" Ash asked her.

"Well, I was just wondering, have you brought any supplies for Growlithe? From the Poké-mart? He would be needing those you know," May said.

Gary slapped a hand on his forehead. "How could I forget _that_?!" he exclaimed. "I was so busy with the lectures that it just didn't occurred to me," he said.

"Don't worry, you can buy them now. We have free time until dinner," May said.

"I can go and buy them Gary, you stay here with Growlithe," Ash volunteered. "But I don't know where the Poké-Mart is located."

"I know where it is," May said, "I can come with you."

"Fine," Ash said.

He and May left behind Gary and Growlithe, and hurried in the direction of the Poké-Mart.

"This is the Poison dept. building," May pointed towards a bright violet colored building, "And behind it is the Pokémon Center," she pointed towards a building with a picture of a large Pokéball on top of it and a huge P emblazoned behind it, "And right next to it is the Poké-Mart," she waved at a small, crowded building.

"Wow, you know a lot about this place. How come?" Ash asked her.

May flushed a little. "Well, it's just that, eh, I was looking at places with Serena earlier. That's how I know," she finished lamely.

Ash had a feeling that she was hiding something but decided not to elaborate.

They entered the Poke-Mart which was extremely crowded. There were a bunch of senior students in there, buying stuff for their Pokémon. Ash and May had to wait in a line for a long time before their number finally came.

"So young trainers, what do you want to buy?" the man behind the counter asked them.

"Eh," Ash didn't knew what to say. What do you buy for a baby Growlithe again? He had no idea.

"Our friend has a recently hatched baby Growlithe. What supplies would we need for him?" May asked the man.

"Oh, well you would need Pokéballs obviously. And food for fire-type baby Pokémon. They need a special kind of food. And some potions. And..." the man trailed off listing a large number of items.

"Pack all of that for us then!" Ash said. He didn't wanted them to miss on any important item while looking after Growlithe.

After they had paid for the various items, the man put all the stuff in a bag and handed it to Ash. He and May made their way back to their dormitories.

"Thanks May! You were a real help today," Ash said with a smile.

"No problem. If you need any help with Growlithe don't hesitate to ask me or Serena," May said.

"Sure!" Ash said and entered his and Gary's room. He found Gary sitting at the edge of his bed with Growlithe in his arms.

"Did you bought the supplies?" he asked Ash the moment Ash stepped inside.

"Yeah, here they are!" Ash said and handed the bag to him. Both of them fed the baby Pokémon food to Growlithe. After that, Gary picked up a Pokéball and pressed a button on top of it.

"Go in the Pokéball and get some rest Growlithe," Gary said gently to his Pokémon. Growlithe readily went inside the Pokéball to get some much needed rest and sleep.

Once Growlithe was inside his Pokéball, Gary got up and went to stand near the window of their room. He was staring outside with a sad, forlorn expression on his face.

Ash felt sorry for him. He softly placed a hand on Gary's shoulder and Gary leaned into the touch.

"I feel like such a loser Ashy," he said, "I-I have never felt so defeated before. Everyone was laughing at me and I couldn't do anything about it. All the knowledge I had gathered over these years at school seems to mean nothing. I am a useless loser."

"You are _not_ a loser Gary," Ash said firmly, "Whatever happened today was not your fault. You and Growlithe did your best and I am sure you will only get better from here."

 _"Did our best?"_ Gary repeated with a mirthless laughter, "Well if our best is standing like a fool and making a joke out of ourselves we sure did it."

"That's not what I meant. I was trying to say that- huh, Gary?!" Ash suddenly exclaimed, as he realized that Gary had started crying.

Sure enough, large round tears were cascading down his face. Ash tried to console him but it was all in vain. Gary wasn't paying attention to anything that Ash said and was crying nonstop.

Ash finally reached out with his hand and gingerly wiped the tears streaming out of Gary's eyes. Gary froze at the touch. He stared at Ash and leaned closer to him. Ash gently caressed his face a little.

Ash looked at Gary. Their eyes met. Ash felt as though some unknown force was pulling him towards Gary. He leaned in closer. More closer. He could feel Gary's sweet breath on his face. He moved closer. And pressed his lips against Gary's.

It felt as though time itself had stopped for those precious few moments. Ash felt Gary's soft lips against his own. It was a light, brief kiss. But to Ash it felt as though it had lasted for an eternity.

All of a sudden he pulled away in shock. Terrified of what he'd done. Gary wasn't looking at him, he was too busy staring at a hole in the carpet. Ash took that opportunity to run out of the room as fast as he could. He slammed the door behind him and ran out in the lobby and out of the building not once stopping to think of what he'd done. He couldn't face it. Couldn't face the fact that he'd kissed Gary Oak.

* * *

 **Hope you liked and enjoyed the chapter. Please review! :)**


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